Not befitting of a grateful nation

November 26, 2008 is a day which no one (except politicians) who saw the dastardly and most horrific terror attack in Mumbai would forget during their lifetime. Entire nation was glued to TV sets as a team of reporters, print and electronic, and camera crews risking their lives recorded every minute of the terror attack and the way the most brave Indian Army Jawans, with perfect coordination of all the three wings of the armed forces, displayed the country’s capability and crushed the terrorism.

Hotel Taj Palace in Mumbai and Chhatrapati Shivaji Railway Station were the two places where the terrorists had struck. They entered India through sea route and killed 166 people including 18 security personnel leaving several others injured. Not just that there were also simultaneous attacks in several parts of Maharashtra.

Ten terrorists created havoc and laid 60-hour siege in Mumbai. This is the day when the country should remember the heroes who saved hundreds of lives in Mumbai, risking their lives in a befitting manner. The way they were airdropped, the way they worked the strategies, the manner in which they entered the hotel, killed the terrorists and the way they freed people from the anti-national elements who were holed up in a building is still fresh in the minds of all those who saw the entire operation live.

It is time to once again salute Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan who was part of the elite National Security Guard (NSG) unit which played the most crucial role in neutralising the terrorists at Taj Palace Hotel. He along with his team of officers entered the hotel facing gun fire and kept them engaged while his team of members evacuated 50 hostages. But then Major Unnikrishnan fell to the bullets of the terrorists saving dozens of lives.

The scene at Chhatrapati Shivaji Railway Station was equally chaotic and pathetic. Multiple bodies were lying drenched in blood as terrorists pumped bullets into the innocent passengers at the station. One young girl Devika Rotawan who was around 10 or 11 years at that time was the youngest survivor who suffered a bullet shot in her leg. She later turned out to be one of the main witness.

But what really pains is that the country did not remember the bravery of our great soldiers in a manner it should have. Prime Minister referred to it in his Man Ki Baat. Floral tributes were paid by the Maharashtra government and may be at a few other places. Placing wreath as a routine exercise is not enough. Four states are in the midst of election process. None, not even Telangana, the neighbouring state of Maharashtra, did anything to remember the great heroes.

Majority of the younger generation who were born after 2008 and would become eligible for voting by next elections would not be knowing anything about it because the dastardliest act of terrorists got buried in the pages of history. When even septuagenarian or octogenarian leaders do not bother to remember or at least make a mention of it before starting their political speeches which are boringly repetitive, how one can expect the young India to know about the sacrifices of the brave hearts. Instead of accusing some as ‘Nafrat Ke Saudagar’ or patting their own back saying they had opened ‘Mohabbat ki Dukan,’ they should have shed at least a tear in memory of those who became martyrs on 26/11. The protagonists of ‘Mohabbat Ki Dukan’ should understand Mohabbat can never be spread from a dukan. It must flow unconditionally.